OTD in 1973 : KISS Play First Show Wearing Original Makeup

Do you know what happened on this day, January 30, in Madhouse History? It happened Nineteen Hundred Seventy-Three, the year of our lord. After recently changing their name from Wicked Lester, Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley, Ace Frehley and Peter Criss made their first appearance as Kiss at the Popcorn Club in Queen’s, New York.

According to the band, they received $3 a night and all the popcorn they could eat. This momentous event was witnessed by all of 9 people. This included the band members, a bartender, a sound man and 3 thugs.

After their first manager quit, declaring the new band’s music “the worst crap he ever heard,” Simmons took over. He cold-called the Popcorn Club, and got them to hire the band for a three-night stand for $150. The catch was KISS had to pay the Popcorn Club $150. Gene eventually got management to pay them $3 in total and forget the $150 fee.

Popcorn

The club was a dump, a faceless, everything-painted-flat-black dump. There were two rooms. You walked into a run-of-the-mill joint, jukebox, with a cigarette machine and toilets on the west/left, and a standard issue bar running the length of the room on the east/right. Behind that was another room, a small stage on both the east and west walls, each with a barely adequate PA and lights. While a group played on one stage, the next band would set up on the other.

OTD in 1973 : KISS Play First Show Wearing Original Makeup

You will not be surprised, I’m sure, to hear that the Coventry Club was, uh, suspected of being a flat-out money-laundering joint. There were always five or six ominous guys slouched at the bar. They clearly hated rock & roll, hated rock bands, hated having to keep their jackets on to hide their guns. This wasn’t even a maybe; these guys were hardcore lower-level gangsters. Tough, sullen, chip-on-their-shoulder thugs!

At this time, KISS were wearing rubber lizard like costumes. This show featured songs which the group would build their reputation on in the coming years including “Deuce,” “Black Diamond,” “Watchin’ You” and a cover of “Puppy Love” by Donny Osmond. The show was so bad that the thugs considered putting the band in cement shoes. However, they decided to let the band live but immediately changed the name of the club to The Coventry.

Sleestaks

The band was then sued by Sid & Marty Kroft because the KISS makeup looked too much like the costumes from their new TV show. The Kroft brothers sued because they copyrighted the makeup and costumes for “The Sleestaks” for their upcoming TV Show, “Land of The Lost”. KISS decided to change their lizard suits for the famous black and white themed makeup that we all know and love.